⬤ USA Today
2023 Best Financial Advisory Firms
usa today best financial advisory firms 2023 logo for wellspring financial

Award based on independent survey carried out by USA TODAY and Statista. Firms need to be nominated by a participant in the survey. No prior registration is required, and no costs are involved for the nomination. The recommendations for each firm are summarized and evaluated anonymously. 
In addition to the survey results, additional metrics (e.g., data in relation to assets under management (AUM)) will be included in the final analysis.

● USA Today
2023 Best Financial Advisory Firms
usa today best financial advisory firms 2023 logo for wellspring financial

Award based on independent survey carried out by USA TODAY and Statista. Firms need to be nominated by a participant in the survey. No prior registration is required, and no costs are involved for the nomination. The recommendations for each firm are summarized and evaluated anonymously. 
In addition to the survey results, additional metrics (e.g., data in relation to assets under management (AUM)) will be included in the final analysis.

Investment Strategy

Investment Strategy

Foundations of Investing

Wellspring’s strategy for investing rests on four pillars:
Invest with your
plan in mind.
Get your
allocation right.
Use best-of-breed, intelligently passive investments.
Be an informed investor.

Invest with Your Plan in Mind​

While many believe the best investments are the path to success, that is just one piece of the puzzle. It is now accepted that a comprehensive and regularly monitored financial plan is equally, if not more, important than solid investments.


Investing must be executed with a goal in mind and appropriately managing risk. To accomplish this, we will work with you to develop a financial plan to be used as a guide for managing your investments. We then seek to deliver upon your goals and objectives outlined in your financial plan by balancing investment risks and returns.

Get Your Allocation Right

A widely published and seminal study by Brinson, Beebower, & Hood (Financial Analysts Journal, May/June 1986) determined that 91% to 98% of portfolio returns are due to the institutional asset class allocations selected. Therefore, our investment strategy centers on the portfolio allocation for our clients and modification of that allocation as time and circumstances dictate. This approach results in an attractive and disciplined sell high/buy low implementation. The impact of emotional and psychological decisions is minimized and controlled so solid investment discussions may occur.​

Best of Breed Investments

Our strategic partner is Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA). They pioneered passive investing – maximizing potential returns while minimizing expenses.

Decades of research guide us in our investment strategies based on:

Passive investing wins. The high cost of administering an actively managed fund can cost you 10% - 30%1 of its possible return. The last credible research concluded that your chance of finding a proper outperforming fund was 160:12


Diversification is key to risk management. Our investment strategies protect against “all-your-eggs-in-one-basket” risks. Our investments will put you in 30 to 38 distinct asset classes, instantly diversifying you across thousands of companies around the globe.


Put your money where the returns are compensated. Risk = Returns is an age-old rule of finance. With Wellspring’s use of proprietary funds not available to the public, we put you in a position to maximize returns.


Lowering costs is a reliable way to increase returns. Such things as trading costs, taxes and management fees, to name a few, can sometimes exceed 1/3 of your returns. Consider this carefully: whether the fund goes up or down, an actively traded fund utilizing frequent buying and selling will take 1/3 of the potential returns away from the investor.

Put the above all together and you get the highest probability of the returns you need and deserve for a fulfilled life.  More importantly, those returns give the highest confidence your written financial plan is achieved.

Be an Informed Investor

“We have met the enemy, and it is us.”3 Time and time again, the average investor receives less than 50% of the returns from their investments.4 Our job at Wellspring is to transform our clients into great investors and stop them from hurting themselves. The most valuable tools we can offer are discipline and knowledge: discipline to stay the course when the market is scary and the knowledge to understand how financial investments work.

1. Dimensional Fund Advisors, “The Science of Investing,” 2011.

2. Barras, Laurent, and Wermers, Russ and Scaillet, O. – “False Discoveries in Mutual Fund Performance – Measuring Luck in Estimated Alphas,” Journal of Finance, February 2010.

3. Quote by Walt Kelly’s comic strip character, Pogo, and first used in a poster for Earth Day in 1970.

4. Swedroe, Larry E, “What Wall Street Doesn’t Want You To Know,” (2001, page 145).

Learn More About Wellspring

Wellspring offers a variety of financial services, including investing assistance. All of our advice is customized to your unique goals and circumstances.